Tuesday, August 27, 2013

And So It Begins Again(?) Our First Health-Related Heart Attack With Cookie

We went to meet Cookie on the way to Jasmine's ranch. Since the guys got along very well, we proceeded on our trip with an extra passenger.

Cookie seemed quite excited about her adventure and not once she looked upset about being taken away from all she knew.

The first day she spent so wound up, she didn't slow down until dinner.

The next day was spent in fun and games, though Cookie didn't mind resting every now and then. The initial excitement wore off a little, it was hot, and she must have been exhausted from the first-day marathon.

The third day started with walks and play and everybody had a great time. Then everybody settled down for a while to cool off.

When Cookie got up she was fully lame on her rear left leg.

She wouldn't put any weight on it at all. Our hearts sank. "You gotta be kidding," we addressed God, omen or destiny, whoever would have been behind this.

What were we looking at?

It certainly did look way too familiar. It looked very much like a busted knee ligament. But Cookie is young, seemed healthy ... and we didn't get a chance to get her insured yet ...

We examined the leg up and down.

There was some irritation in the foot, otherwise we couldn't put our finger on any other problem. But when Jasmine injured her cruciate, there was no swelling and no pain reaction to palpation we could elicit either.

There WAS the irritation on the foot. Hubby recalled that in the morning as she was running, she stopped suddenly and started fussing with it. Then she resumed play.

I'd certainly take an injured foot over an injured knee any day.

But I had a hard time buying that a foot injury, seen only as minor irritation between the pads, could result in such a complete lameness.

I remembered the two tumbles she took when she landed on the deck with more enthusiasm than control. You can imagine how worried I was.

As she remained lame through the day, we decided to cut the trip short, regardless of what this was.

Our house is well-equipped to accommodate a lame dog. And it would be easier to keep her calm, as well as see a vet.

As I was packing up, I remembered that in the morning Cookie came for a visit in the trailer and I found something odd on the blanket. It was snotty, slimy, pouch like thing; but not like any kind of snot I've seen come out of a dog before.

Then I recalled that once I got a wasp sting in my arm and as I instinctively slapped the wasp, similar looking slimy pouch-like thing remained on my arm too.

Perhaps it was a venom sac?

If it was, than I could buy the degree of lameness we were seeing. Hubby though it might have been a sharp weed, but that just wouldn't convince me. A wasp or bee sting would.

We did give Cookie some Benadryl, but it didn't seem to have made much of a difference.

What a start of her new life.

We loaded Cookie into the bus and on the way back home we were.

There we couple things we felt were different between Cookie's and Jasmine's lameness.

They both were fully lame on the leg, with the occasional toe-touch. Those are hallmark symptoms of a busted knee.

However, Cookie didn't seem to have any problems with fully bending and extending the leg; there was no hesitation or resistance there. When sitting, Cookie sat normally, not with the injured leg kicked out to the side like Jasmine would. On the other hand, it seemed that Cookie didn't want to put any pressure on the foot, even when sitting or laying down.

Those signs were somewhat hopeful, as they were different. And then there was the potential finding of the venom sac ...

With our history, though, I wasn't holding my breath. "And so it begins again," I thought to myself with my stomach in knots.

We always thought that Jasmine was jinxed with bad health. What it wasn't her, what if it is us?

Ohhhhh geeeeee...Not already!? Jana, perhaps it's your destiny to have busted dog, just so that you can go on educating the masses?? I truly hope it isn't though. You guys deserve a nice long break of good health.

Shortly after we got Rita, she started limping. Limping was the first sign with our previous dog, Abby, that she had bone cancer, which she got at only 15 months of age, so we knew it could strike a puppy. We were freaked, of course. It turned out to be just some temporary lameness from an overuse injury. I hope you'll have a similar easily-fixed experience!

OMD, bone cancer at the age of 15 months? :-( I can imagine how you would freak over every limp.

Glad it was just some temporary lameness in Rita's case. With Cookie it did turn out to be a foot, more specifically, eventually a chunk of a porcupine quill came out of it. Today it's looking calm, so hopefully the tip of the quill is somewhere else and not in that foot.

Jana, a porcupine quill?! Just wanted to say....it may be you...because I truly believe our dogs choose us. They know who will love and stick by them no matter what! And your Angel Jasmine knows just how to guide you to her friends on Earth in need. Bless you and your family for taking in Cookie and patiently helping her to be the best she can be.

Subscribe To

About Me

Search Blog

The Rabies Challenge Fund

The goal of The Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust is to determine the duration of immunity conveyed by rabies vaccines in order to extend the required interval for rabies boosters to 5 and then to 7 years.

Supporting Wikipedia

Disclaimer: Information published on this blog are my opinions and findings the way I understand them. I try to provide good information, but my main goal is to get you to get educated and come to your own understanding of things.